file does not begin with "%pdf"

[harry nash]

I have Acrobat reader 5.0.1 and Int Expl. 5.00.2614.3500. Tried to download later Internet Explorer, got above message.also tried to download later Acrobat Reader, got same message.Have tried others also with same result.

[Aandi Inston]

Somehow, your system has been told to use Acrobat Reader to open
things which it doesn't understand. If you can figure out how you did
that, undo it...

Aandi Inston

[Brigitte Bergman]

Hi Friends
I get that message all the time.
I hope for a solution soon!
Thanks
BB

[Claudio González]

Mac: Apple Menu, Control Panels, File exchange. PC: consult the FAQs of this topic.

[GraceRD]

I have just downloaded Adobe Reader (for the 3rd time) because of receiving this message (File does not begin with '%PDF-') every time I try to access a PDF file. I have Windows XP Professional. I have tried accessing PDF files from a variety of sites with no success. Am also hoping for a fix soon.

[Claudio González]

If you are not been sent PDFs, why do you expect Reader to open the files?

[f. fosdick]

I get this message, (file does not begin with '%pdf-'), attempting to open downloaded e-mail attachments from people who say they are not sending in pdf. Some are in Mac, I am not. Is that the problem or is it in my setup? It's frustrating enough to make the USPS seem a reasonable alternative. Almost.

[f. fosdick]

I don't "expect" anything, except to open a downloaded file. Why do these files go into Reader if they are not BEING sent in pdf? If I'm asking the question, I don't know the answer. That makes sense doesn't it, Claudio?

[Aandi Inston]

Returning to your question - it's your setup.

What probably happened is that you tried to open one of these files
once and Windows asked you what to use. You chose Reader, and Windows
remembered your wrong choice forever. It's helpful like that.

Do you know what program SHOULD open the attachments? If so, save the
attachment to disk, and open it from there (File > Open, not a double
click).

If not, you will have to find out. The thing about when Windows says
"What program should I use to open ..." many people assume that there
must be an answer, and guess wildly. In fact, Windows is asking
because it doesn't think there is any program. The chances are there
isn't, and guessing won't help. There are hundreds of thousands of
different programs, even experts can't guess.

If you don't know what an attachment is, exactly and in detail and
what you are supposed to do with it, for goodness sake DON'T OPEN IT.
It could easily be a virus, that's how most of them spread. Contact
the sender and have them (a) confirm that they really sent it (viruses
send themselves) and (b) have them tell you how to open it.

Aandi Inston

[Claudio González]

F, yes it does make sense now, but it wasn't clear in your original message. In any case, Aandi has explained the situation much better than I could have done.

BTW, once you do find the type of file you are being sent and the program you should use for opening them, I would suggest changing the respective associations. If you are on a PC, the FAQs give instructions for doing it.

[f. fosdick]

OK. This will take some work, but at least I have an idea of what's happening. Thanks to both of you.

[giuseppe caserta]

Hi,
I have the same problem. We have a web server where are installed some PDF files.
Some clients can to open the files from the PC others not because receive the error Message (file does not begin with "%pdf"). The clients and server are w2000.
I think that not is possible that the file is damaged because some PC cannot to open them.
Please can you give me an help.
Thanks
Giuseppe

[Claudio González]

Maybe some clients have older versions of Reader and the PDFs weren't made backwards compatible.

[giuseppe caserta]

No all clients have the same version because was installed with Ghost software.
Then not always the same clients have the problem, but one time are 3/4 clients,
another time are other different clients.

[darryl lim]

Hi everybody,

I've opened a web page with displays the pdf file. Then I've downloaded by clicking "save as" on the file button. But when I click on the pdf file using acrobat reader (using version3 but same result using 4), it displays that message (it displays the web page without the pdf file). Can anybody help my out? Thanks.

btw, Claudio, when you mean PC: FAQs on this topic, what do you mean? Consult the PC FAQ section in this site? Thanks.

[Claudio González]

Yes.

[Brian Preston]

I have the same error problem. We are generating PDF reports with Oracle Reports, using some .rdf file. (Someone else created this part of our app and now I get to support it yippee).

But our problem is that some users can retrieve the pdf fine, while others get the error. I know the pdf file is the same because I've looked at it in TextPad and they both start exactly the same, with the '%PDF-1.1' as the first line.

Both of these machines have Acrobat 5.0 installed. I'm assuming it's some kind of client setting. Any ideas?

I've read the FAQ here and searched the forums here. The FAQ mentions other programs that create PDF files may not 'adhere to the exact requirements of the PDF specification' - how do I check this?

[Tom Geschwender]

'%PDF-1.1' is version 2.x of Acrobat, which is probably why you are having so much trouble reading it with version 5.0x.